The present invention relates to a timber crusher including a crusher and a rotary tub.
As a scattering prevention cover for preventing timber pieces crushed by a timber crusher from scattering to an outside, for example, there is conventionally an art as shown in FIG. 10 through FIG. 12. The constitution thereof will be explained based on the drawings.
A timber crusher 50 has an engine 52, and a crusher 54 rotationally driven by the engine 52 via a propeller shaft 53, on a base 51. The rotary tub 55 in a funnel form for guiding the timber charged from an outside is placed above the crusher 54, and part of an outer periphery surface of the crusher 54 is exposed to an inside of the rotary tub 55. A scattering prevention cover 56 in a shell form having a lower end edge in close vicinity of an upper end portion of the rotary tub 55 is placed at the upper edge of the rotary tub 55 to face a scattering direction Q of the timber pieces crushed by rotation of the crusher 54 as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12. As shown in FIG. 10, a conveyor 58 for discharging the crushed timber pieces to the outside is placed under the crusher 54.
According to the above-described constitution, the timber charged from an upper opening (charging port) of the rotary tub 55 is guided into the crusher 54 by the rotation of the rotary tub 55 and crushed by the crusher 54. The crushed timber pieces are discharged to the outside by the conveyor 58. The timber pieces scattering in the direction Q shown in FIG. 11 following the rotation direction of the crusher 54 when they are crushed by the crusher 54 are prevented from scattering to the outside by the scattering prevention cover 56.
However, the above-described prior art has the following disadvantages.
(1) In order to make it easy to charge timber into the rotary tub 55, the scattering prevention cover 56 cannot sufficiently cover the charging port of the rotary tub 55. Thus, crushed timber pieces easily scatter to the outside from the charging port of the rotary tub 55. Further, as shown in FIG. 12, the timber pieces forcibly collided against the scattering prevention cover 56 in a shell form disposed opposite the scattering direction Q of the timber pieces sometimes spring back in a direction 5 shown in FIG. 12 and scatter outside the rotary tub 55, whereby scattering prevention effect cannot be sufficiently obtained.
(2) The timber charged from the upper opening of the rotary tub 55 located above the crusher 54 sometimes collides directly against the crusher 54, and therefore the crusher 54 is easily damaged.
The present invention is made in view of the above-described disadvantages, and its object is to provide a timber crusher that can exhibit an effect of preventing timber pieces from scattering to an outside and can prevent damage to the crusher.
In order to attain the above-described object, a first aspect of a timber crusher according to the present invention is a timber crusher comprising, on a base, a crusher for crushing timber into pieces and a rotary tub for guiding the timber to the crusher, and has the constitution in which a hopper having an upwardly open shell part and guiding the charged timber to the rotary tub is provided at an opening of the rotary tub.
According to the above constitution, as a result that the hopper is provided at an opening of the rotary tub, the opening of the rotary tub is covered with the hopper. Consequently, even if the timber pieces crushed by the crusher scatter, they collide against an inner wall of the hopper and are thrown back to return into the rotary tub. Further, the timber pieces forcibly colliding and thrown back are thrown back by the inner wall of the hopper on the opposite side. Accordingly, the timber pieces scattering outside the rotary tub are reduced, thus making it possible to improve the scattering prevention effect.
Further, in the timber crusher, the hopper may be inclined with respect to the horizontal.
According to the above constitution, since the hopper is inclined with respect to the horizontal, the area of the charging port of the hopper seen from the timber charging direction is substantially larger than the area in the plan view. Specifically, the substantial area of the charging port becomes larger when the hopper is inclined than when the hopper is horizontally placed. Further, since the hopper is inclined, an operator of a charging machine (for example, a wheel loader and the like) for charging timber to the timber crusher can easily confirm the position of the charging port. For these reasons, charging of timber into the hopper is facilitated and efficiency of the timber crushing operation is improved.
Further, in the timber crusher, the hopper may be tiltable with respect to the horizontal.
According to the above constitution, the hopper is selectively tilted according to the use conditions.
Specifically, during the timber crushing operation, the hopper is tilted to facilitate the crushing operation such as charging of timber. On the other hand, at the time of transportation of the timber crusher, the hopper is made horizontal, whereby the height of the hopper, and the vehicle height of the timber crusher in its turn, are reduced and can be kept within the transportation limit value. As a result, both the crushing operation efficiency and transportability of the timber crusher can be improved.
Furthermore, in the timber crusher, the hopper may be provided with a scattering prevention cover for preventing the timber from scattering to an outside from an inside of the rotary tub.
According to the above constitution, since the hopper is provided with the scattering prevention cover, the timber pieces scattering from the crusher is thrown back at the hopper inner wall and/or the scattering prevention cover, and most of them are returned into the rotary tub. Accordingly, since the timber pieces scattering to the outside of the rotary tub are sharply reduced, the scattering prevention effect can be surely obtained.
Further, in the timber crusher, the scattering prevention cover may be inclined downward to a timber charging port of the rotary tub.
According to the above constitution, even if the timber pieces forcibly collide against the scattering prevention cover, the scattering prevention cover is inclined downward to the timber charging port, and therefore the timber pieces are thrown back into the rotary tub. Accordingly, the probability of the timber pieces scattering toward the timber charging port is extremely low, and therefore the scattering prevention effect can be surely exhibited. In addition, since the scattering prevention cover also has the function of a chute for transferring the timber charged into the hopper to the charging port, timber is easily charged into the rotary tub, and the efficiency of the timber crushing operation is improved. Further, since the timber can be dropped onto the scattering prevention cover (specifically, the chute), the dropped timber does not directly collide against the crusher, and thus damage to the crusher can be prevented.
A second aspect of a timber crusher according to the present invention is a timber crusher comprising, on a base, a crusher rotating around a substantially horizontal rotation axis and crushing timber into pieces, a rotary tub for guiding the charged timber to the crusher, and a scattering prevention cover for preventing the timber from scattering to an outside from an inside of the rotary tub, and has the constitution in which a timber charging port is formed at an opening of the rotary tub by an edge portion of the scattering prevention cover, and a direction of the edge portion is a direction rotated a predetermined angle in a rotational direction of the rotary tub with respect to a rotation axis direction of the crusher, in a plan view.
According to the above constitution, the direction of the edge portion of the scattering prevention cover forming the timber charging port of the rotary tub is set to oppose a main direction in which the timber pieces crushed by the crusher scatter, at a substantially right angle. Specifically, based on the fact that the timber pieces crushed by the crusher normally scatter in the composite direction of the rotational direction of the crusher and the rotational direction of the rotary tub, the scattering prevention cover is placed. As a result, the timber pieces scattering in the composite direction collide against the scattering prevention cover and the quantity thereof returned to the inside of the rotary tub is increased, thus making it possible to sharply reduce the quantity of timber pieces scattering to the outside of the rotary tub.
A third aspect of the timber crusher according to the present invention is a timber crusher comprising, on a base, a crusher rotating around a substantially horizontal rotation axis and crushing timber into pieces, a rotary tub for guiding the charged timber to the crusher, and a scattering prevention cover for preventing the timber from scattering to an outside from an inside of the rotary tub, and has the constitution in which the scattering prevention cover forms a timber charging port at an opening of the rotary tub and covers at least part of the crusher exposed into the rotary tub.
According to the above constitution, the scattering prevention cover forming part of the timber charging port of the rotary tub covers at least part of the crusher exposed into the rotary tub. As a result, the timber charged from the charging port hardly collides directly against the crusher, and thus damage to the crusher can be prevented.
A fourth aspect of the timber crusher according to the present invention is a timber crusher comprising, on a base, a crusher for crushing timber into pieces, a rotary tub for guiding the charged timber to the crusher, and a scattering prevention cover for preventing the timber from scattering to an outside from an inside of the rotary tub, and further comprises bearers attached on the base, for rotatably attaching the scattering prevention cover, having the constitution in which the scattering prevention cover is formed to be expandable and contractible by a plurality of rotatable frames at the bearers and a sheet stretched between the plurality of frames, and freely covers an opening of the rotary tub by expanding and contracting the sheet.
According to the above constitution, a wide range of the opening of the rotary tub can be covered with the scattering prevention cover formed to be expandable and contractible by the sheet and a plurality of frames, thus making it possible to surely prevent the timber pieces from scattering outside the rotary tub. In addition, by making the scattering prevention cover in a contracted state, the height of the scattering prevention cover can be kept within the transportation limit value by the transport vehicle, thus making it possible to improve transportability of the timber crusher.
Furthermore, in the timber crusher, the timber crusher may be mounted on a mobile vehicle.
According to the above constitution, since the timber crusher is mounted on the mobile vehicle to be movable, it is possible to perform crushing operations, moving between a plurality of accumulation spots of timber to be crushed. As a result, it is not necessary to convey timber to the timber crusher from a plurality of accumulation spots as a stationary timber crusher, and the efficiency of timber crushing operation is improved. Further, loading onto the transport vehicle is facilitated at the time of transfer to the operation site, thus making it possible to improve operability at the time of transport.